Home > Furman Bisher > Archives > 2009 > January > 03 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USYear-end sports statement shows mostly gains
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look, you can knock the year we just finished if you choose to. As an investor, I do. As a member of the local sports society, I don’t. Bear with me.
Yeah, the Braves were sickening, started bad and became a lost cause. It just isn’t sound business to open a season counting on two pitchers in their 40s, both with damaged arms, and another who hasn’t thrown an official pitch in three seasons. (And far as I’m concerned, good riddance, Mike Hampton, mainly a drag on the payroll.)
Then there was the Mark Teixeira charade. Traded five good prospects to get him, then traded him away for a young first baseman and an unknown soldier. The one bright spot was Chipper Jones, who led the league in hitting — though able to take the field only 128 times.
And frankly, the spring doesn’t look much better this year.
Ah, but let’s look at the brighter side, and it begins with the Georgia basketball team. If there ever has been a more unlikely champion of the Southeastern Conference, the floor is open for nominations. Those Bulldogs stand as a testimonial to Dennis Felton, who keeps his house in order. It was a freshman lad who threw up the key basket during the tournament run, which I heard straining my ears on a car radio in a dark parking lot.
The Hawks, well, they were just tuning up when they carried the Celtics to the limit in the NBA playoffs. I’m not sure how Mike Woodson and Billy Knight got along, but Mike seems to be doing very well without the discarded general manager.
Now we really hit the high note — the Falcons, new and improved, as they say in those commercials. A new general manager, new coach, new quarterback, new running game and a cagey day at the draft. From the day Thomas Dimitroff hit this town, the Falcons began working their way out of their doldrums. Mike Smith followed, then the draft, in which Dimitroff paid heed to his own judgment and chose Matt Ryan, a fresh graduate of Boston College, now offensive rookie of the NFL season. Michael Turner was cleverly claimed as a free agent, and he gave the running game some clout.
Smith did the rest. For a man who had never been a head coach, he showed an unusual propensity for finding the right player for the right job. Rarely ever will you see such an uncanny turnaround in an NFL team, a just reward for Arthur Blank, whose ownership had been beset by some unfortunate judgments. Picking winners after the game has been played is easy, but as this is written, the Falcons and Cardinals haven’t yet taken the field. I take the privilege of being a “homer.”
Then there was the improbable turn of fate at Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson came aboard with his uncanny offense that worked magically until New Year’s Eve in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. This Tech team had been beaten before, but never so thoroughly as by LSU. The North Carolina game was a calamity. This one was worse. As the woman convicted of murdering her husband said, “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
Mark Richt began the season on top of the heap of at Georgia, No. 1 before the season began, fell from that lofty perch the first week and never made it back. The Bulldogs recovered in the Capital One Bowl, but got little credit in the press for beating Michigan State. More accounts dealt with two players who might, or might not, turn pro afterward. Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, in case you missed it.
Bill Curry returned to coaching and faces the monumental charge of establishing a football program at Georgia State, from the ground up.
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards won NASCAR’s two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and in Busch’s case, it was the start of one of the hottest streaks of the year.
Golf took its licks in the area. AT&T pulled out of Sugarloaf, and there was no replacement. The Tour Championship made its annual return to East Lake, but the air had already been let out of its balloon. Though Camilo Villegas won it, the FedEx prize had already been nailed down by Vijay Singh.
This is just sort of skimming the cream off the top, and with that I depart, wishing for you a new and improved 2009.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB, Falcons/NFL, Hawks/NBA, Tech/ACC, UGA/SEC
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By Tech beat dogs in 08
January 3, 2009 7:04 PM | Link to this
The start of another “hot” streak!
By ben
January 4, 2009 7:56 AM | Link to this
don’t forget that the thrashers continued to circle the drain.
By Darrin "The Vent King"
January 4, 2009 8:18 PM | Link to this
I agree that the Falcons have the brightest future of probably any team in the league. They're young and only going to get better. I am too proud of the turnaround they made this year after the disastrous season beforehand. These guys play like a true "team" and Coach of the Year Mike Smith has a lot to do with that. That whole staff has been a wonderfully refreshing breath of fresh air to that entire franchise. If you had asked me before the season began would we even have had a winning season let alone make the playoffs- milk might have shot out of my nose. As it is, despite the loss yesterday to the Cards- this is going to be a seriously long nine months waiting for the next season to begin. As far as the Hawks, I'm still skeptical about Woodson, but have to admit he has those guys winning so that's all you can ask. Outside of Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby is probably the best thing to happen to this team. He is showing signs of his old Sacramento-self. His leadership on the offensive side is fun to watch. I think they are one legit big man away from making some serious noise in the playoffs. With both the Hawks and Falcons' future on the upswing, Atlanta is going to have a lot to be excited about the next few years!GO FALCONS AND HAWKS!!!
By boot
January 5, 2009 8:39 AM | Link to this
Uncanny turnaround? I thought last to first was the rule now.
If the Falcons are going to lose in the wildcard game for the next five years, then this franchise doesn’t deserve our attention.
We’ll never win big with Smith. or Ryan. The season had too many improbale comebacks in the waning seconds. The falcons were lucky, not skillful.
It’s better to be good than lucky in football, my friends.
By Mac
January 5, 2009 10:18 AM | Link to this
Boot is a real heel.
By Erica-Nicole
January 6, 2009 9:51 AM | Link to this
Boot is right ‘Tis better 2B good than lucky in football. U cant rely on luck in the playoffs. U have to know what 2 Do when U decipher the other team’s game plan, which takes about two possesions if you’re not a moron.
I cant stand this kind of pain. We lost to a team that’s going down next week by a blowout.
THe only wildcard team worthy of respect is the chargers. They will be all anyone can handle next week. I like the chargers chances.
Does anyone have any valium?
By Art Vandelay
January 6, 2009 10:03 AM | Link to this
Very entertaining, Furman — thanks, as usual. A correction, however. Candy Mossler, the woman who famously remarked, “Well, nobody’s perfect” when confronted with allegations of murder and incest, was acquitted of the crime, not convicted.
By Erica-Nicole
January 6, 2009 11:55 AM | Link to this
“nobody’s perfect” was from “some like it hot” with tony curtis and jack lemmon.
Candy Mossler was guilty. I can smell a rat mile away, and that woman was a no good, dirty, line-stealing rat.
By vic##
January 6, 2009 2:44 PM | Link to this
WE NEED Michael Vick!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Barry
January 7, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this
Hey Y’all:
The Falcons are “LEGIT FOR THE FUTURE”. They now have professional football people runnig the organization with intensity and vision. Moreover, Arthur Blank now knows hia role as an owner and that is to assist upon request of the general manager and the coach. He is not to lead. Not that he does not know anything. It is because he does not know the intricacies of professional foootball. I believe all professional football owners need to do is hire a quality GM and a head coach and let them do their thing. Blank has done that with Dimitroff and Coach Smith. I am more than confident that they are going to deliver division and Super Bowl championships in the immediate future. More than that, I believe these guys are having fun and are enthusiastic about the jobs they have and the work they are doing. Their enthusiasm resonates throughout the entire team. They have “CHEMISTRY” and they function as “ONE HEARTBEAT!!”. I therefore look forward to next season ,and the seasons thereafter, enjoying exciting, nitty, gritty, creative, hard fought football by these young Falcons. I look forward to seeing them in “ONE HEARTBEAT!!!!!!”: THE HEART OF ATLANTA.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is a SECRET from a FALCON FAN. TELL EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO FALCONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SEE Y’ALL NEXT SEASON!!!
"ONE HEARTBEAT, BABY!!!!!"Ringold
SSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
By Serendipitous Stipend
January 8, 2009 1:37 PM | Link to this
Falcons will never see the playoffs again under Smith.
They only made it this year cause of hail marys.
Dont expect any more virgins to help the falcons. OMG: I just invented the cheerleader eligible play.
bwa
By Russ
January 12, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this
What about NHRA.Don’t that count?